Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

I did not realize that Quentin Tarantino's recent film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, was about the Manson family murders until well into the story, when I began to put together the hints along the way. Of course, most folks will already know this when they go to see the movie because most folks are more plugged into current American film offerings and pre-release media than I am. In a sense, this made me the ideal viewer, as Tarantino was able to spring this shock-value surprise on me whilst I was otherwise immersed in the frivolity of Hollywood lifestyles and the self-centered fixations of actors and directors which seemed, though deceptively so, to be the focus of the story. It all comes together rather nicely, actually, and ends up delivering a comedy, in the classic sense, of Hollywood illusion juxtaposed with the deadly realities of the world. I have never been a Tarantino fan (to put it mildly), but this is certainly his most successful, most artistic, most meaningful effort. Yes, when it comes to the Manson murders, I would rather see a film from Spike Lee or Francis Ford Coppola or Martin Scorsese; but then again, it is perhaps better at this point in time to talk not about the factual details regarding the murders and the murderers, but about the culture that produced them and continues to do so. And this is what Tarantino has done. It is a good movie, I will say grudgingly, and it is extremely well acted by Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Al Pacino.